Many have said that it takes all kinds of kinds to keep the world moving, from my perspective that is only empty justification, the kind of justification that keeps us from confronting and evolving our lesser selves. One must see that there are what is called self-preservationists and then there are societal-preservationists. The self preservationist is the one who will serve his or herself with little thought to consequence unless that consequence will impact their status, opportunity and sense of self. The societal preservationist will think first of consequence and then serve the person or group of persons who will be impacted most by said consequence even at the cost of his or her own status, opportunity but never at the cost of their integrity for that is the only sense of self worthy of taking pride in.

I’ve found the world to be full of boastful but fragile men and women, followers disguised as leaders for their ego is one in the same as their sense of self, built of praise and sustained by empty opportunity. These people define power as a rank, their livelihood is at the mercy of that ranking and as long as they can be carried on the shoulders of others they feel as powerful as need be to suffice the self. Do they keep the world moving? No, not exactly, not from a perspective of power, they are merely a cog in the machine, their need to preserve their own standing in “their world” does however set the wheels of inspiration for real power turning.

Power is not the idea of winning over losing, power is the ability to stand and right the wrongs in the face of attrition. Those who are considered societal preservationists understand power because they view it from a moral perspective, they view power as responsibility, not as a right. In order for the world to continue to move forward, the shift from privilege to morality must become a priority. Those receiving breaks must question at what cost someone else’s brokenness came for that privilege.

The world is full of beautifully selfless people too, those who lead by carrying one another to advance the whole. To lead with integrity is the hardest thing for people to truly act upon for it requires one to completely lose the sense of self and discover the vulnerability required to expose and honor the true self. We must ask ourselves if we are willing to honor our integrity over the ego, are we willing to help others over ourselves?